This gene encodes a member of the trinucleotide repeat containing 6 protein family. The protein is highly similar to a human protein that functions in post-transcriptional gene silencing through the RNA interference (RNAi) and microRNA pathways. The human protein associates with messenger RNAs and argonaute proteins in cytoplasmic bodies known as GW-bodies or P-bodies and inhibiting its expression delocalizes other GW-body proteins and impairs RNAi and microRNA-induced gene silencing. [provided by RefSeq Jul 2008]